New York Times Letters To The Editor Address Concerns About Genetic Discrimination By Employers, Health Insurers

Main Category: Genetics
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 04 Mar 2008 - 12:00 PDT

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The New York Times on Sunday published several letters to the editor that address a Feb. 24 article on concerns about genetic discrimination by employers and health insurers. Summaries of three of the letters appear below.

• Peter Barland: The article "is a tragic indictment of our current private 'health' insurance system, which inhibits Americans from using advances in medical science that can predict their risks for many potentially treatable illnesses because they fear they will lose their ability to obtain medical insurance," Barland, a member of the board of directors of Physicians for a National Health Plan, writes in a Times letter. According to Barland, as the "understanding of the contributions of genetics to human disease is expanding very rapidly, this dilemma will grow in tandem." He adds, "It is ironic that we are willing to provide a single-payer plan for our seniors (Medicare), when many of these preventable illnesses cause their greatest suffering and expense" (Barland, New York Times, 3/2).
  
  
• Hank Greely: The article "illustrated nicely the existence and harmful effects of fear of genetic discrimination, but it may have inadvertently made matters worse," Greely, a law and genetics professor at Stanford University, writes in a Times letter. According to Greely, 90% of "Americans cannot be affected by genetic discrimination, either because they get health coverage in ways that do not allow health risks to be considered (Medicare, Medicaid, employer coverage) or because they can't afford health insurance at all." He adds that only "about 15 million Americans get insurance in ways that could lead to genetic discrimination" and that "more than 40 states have forbidden discrimination in that kind of insurance" (Greely, New York Times, 3/2).
  
  
• Kenneth Offit: The concerns raised in the article "should be tempered by two important observations," Offit, chief of Clinical Genetics Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, writes in a Times letter. He adds that, "rather than discriminate, most health insurance companies now cover costs not only for genetic testing, but also for the surgeries or increased screening that follow a positive genetic test for increased risk of breast, ovarian or colon cancer." In addition, "at centers such as ours, the number of families having genetic testing has increased dramatically over the past few years, and a relatively small minority of individuals have canceled visits because of fears of potential insurance discrimination," Offit concludes (Offit, New York Times, 3/2).

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